Tom Corbett

Democrats on a congressional oversight panel are stepping up their investigation into how well states are regulating the disposal of oil and gas waste, citing continuing public concern about the potential environmental and health risks of hydraulic fracturing.

Fulfilling a campaign pledge, Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday signed an order Thursday banning new drilling leases on public land, ending a short-lived effort by his Republican predecessor to expand the extraction of natural gas from rock buried deep beneath state parks and forests.

For a prosecution that began with such a bang, as Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced the indictments — “The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has been corrupted by improper political influence from its very own officials” — it ends with plea deals and not a single official sentenced to jail time.

Democrat Tom Wolf sent Republican Gov. Tom Corbett to a historic defeat, making him the first incumbent to lose in the four decades since Pennsylvania’s chief executive was allowed to seek re-election.